The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-06-04
RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE OF THE WEEK.

SIT seems to me fitting that you attend
some church in body on the day preceding
Memorial day. The church is inseparably
allied with the war you have waged. The
church was the school of patriotism. 1t was
the effect of its teaching that famed 30 many
hearts when Sumter was fred on, that
brought such prompt and large responses to
Lincoln's call for volunteers. 1t was the doc
trine she taught, that life is noble only as it
is allied to great principles that made men
give up lucrative employment, abandon
hopeful commercial enterprises, turn their
backs upon the comforts of home, bid tear
full farewells to beloved wives and darling
children, and lay down their lives in defense
of the right. The soldier was the graduate
of the Sunday-school. Throughout the great
strife the church aided you increasingly in
sending others TO your aid, and furnishing
things to comfort and cheer you. The San
itary Commission and kindred societies were
rapidly organized in the churches. Many a
dying boy on the tented field whispered his
message of love to the distant mother in
the ear of one sent by the church to minis
ter to the sick and wounded.
Now that the war is past and peace and
prosperity reign, it is fitting that you turn to
the church for consolation. What is the con-
ISOLATION? 1t is that those we mourn have
gone to their reward. Does any one doubt
that? Is any religionist so compressed about
the heart with the iron bands of creed that
he would challenge the Union soldier at the
Pos, oft ho hot Lot oboIl arln
In heaven, devotion to principle stands
among the cardinal virtues. In heaven, a
wound for humanity's sake is passport.
But there is consolation in the text that
does not point to distant heaven. 1t is one
that may be shared by ALI He, being dead,
yet speaketb.' What say these voices of the
dead to us? Do they not plead with us to ap
preciate the institutions under which we live?
We should be thrilled with the consciousness
of our noble privileges. Familiarity breeds
contempt runs the old proverb, and, while
accept that only in a limited sense, it is true
that long association with what is great and
noble dulls our appreciation of it. Let not
familiarity with liberty dull our apprecia-
ton for liberty or deaden love of country.
Liberty 1t was worth dying for ere Lincoln
emancipated those millions of slaves. 1t
certainly had an added value after that.
Finally, they whose bodies rest beneath
yonder graves admonish US to watch closely
lest disintegration enter and spoil our in
situations. The sentry-box must never be
deserted. The picket duty falls on every
stranger. That which is suspicious must be
challenged. characterization must be quelled.
If we would make the victories of our SOL
diers an eternal success, we must watch ten
denotes of American life. There are combin-
atoms, not only of labor, but of capital, that
must be watched. There are professions in
our streets that must be watched. There are
glib political orators who must be watched.
There are social customs among the so-called
higher classes that must be watched. Whoever
marches on our streets with the American
flag uspide down, whoever hampers with the
American ballot-box, whoever takes away by
force, and without the authority of law, the
liberty of any American citizen, be he white
or black, capitalist or laborer, must be
counted traitor to these stars and stripes,
and an migrate to those dead who shed their
blood that freedom should not perish from
the EARTH"